


Night Court

by shieraseastar03



Series: ACOMAF [2]
Category: A Court of Thorns and Roses Series - Sarah J. Maas
Genre: Confessions, Discovery, F/M, Sad, The Night Court, Velaris
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-28
Updated: 2019-05-28
Packaged: 2020-03-26 12:50:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,517
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19006147
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shieraseastar03/pseuds/shieraseastar03





	Night Court

They arrived at the palace in the top of the Court of Nightmares. Rhysand couldn't believe what had happened, she had took his hand without hesitation, but now he was afraid of how she would react to be in his Court. 

Whatever building they were in had been perched atop one of the gray-stoned mountains. The hall around them was open to the elements, no windows to be found, just towering pillars and gossamer curtains, swaying in that jasmine-scented breeze.

It must be some magic, to keep the air warm in the dead of winter. Not to mention the altitude, or the snow coating the mountains, mighty winds sending veils of it drifting off the peaks like wandering mist.

Little seating, dining, and work areas dotted the hall, sectioned off with those curtains or lush plants or thick rugs scattered over the moonstone floor. A few balls of light bobbed on the breeze, along with colored-glass lanterns dangling from the arches of the ceiling.

Not a scream, not a shout, not a plea to be heard.

Behind Shiera, a wall of white marble arose, broken occasionally by open doorways leading into dim stairwells. The rest of the Night Court had to be through there. No wonder she couldn’t hear anyone screaming, if they were all inside.

“This is my private residence” Rhys said casually. His skin was darker than she had remembered, golden now, rather than pale. Pale, from being locked Under the Mountain for fifty years. 

She scanned him, searching for any sign of the massive, membranous wings, the ones he had admitted he loved flying with. But there was none. Just the male, staring at her.

The princess went directly to one window and she noticed that hadn't glass, the palace was opened to the sky. For the first time in months she felt that she wasn't trapped, she could finally breathe. 

Shiera looked at the gorgeous mountains surrounding them, all covered in snow and the wonderful stars shining above her. She had fear how that Court would be but this view… She went to her knees, overwhelmed by the feeling of freedom and the beauty of that place. 

He saw how she knelt before the view, her dress looked like a huge cake around her and he could feel her feelings as she watched through the window without glass. He felt her heart aching because of what she left in Adriata, her fear of what Tamlin would do to her because of being in that Court and her nerves of being in an unknown place.

He needed Shiera to be happy, he hated to see her sad of with fear. So he started to talk “Welcome to the Night Court, Shiera darling. I see that you are watching the view but please don't throw yourself through the window, you just came. Give it an opportunity” he joked with a grin, she turned her face to him shocked when she listened to that joke but he saw that two tears were falling down her cheeks. 

“What? I wasn't…” Shiera murmured with confusion, “I was joking. I thought you liked sarcasm” he purred, “I do but… You took me by surprise” she said in a low voice and added a little smirk.

He had made her smile… For the first time in 3 months she had smiled… and Rhys was the one who had accomplished it. 

Rhys snorted. “I certainly missed that look on your face.” He stalked closer, his movements feline, those violet eyes turning subdued, lethal. “I’m willing to accept your thanks at any time, you know. You’re welcome, princess”. “For what?” she inquired.

Rhys paused less than a foot away, sliding his hands into his pockets. The night didn’t seem to ripple from him here, and he appeared, despite his perfection, almost normal. “For saving you when asked”. Shiera stiffened. “I didn’t ask for anything.”

His stare dipped to her left hand. Rhys gave no warning as he gripped her arm, snarling softly. “I heard you say no. I heard you saying you couldn't take another step, that you needed to run away”. “I… I didn’t…”.

He turned her bare hand over, his hold tightening as he examined the eye he had tattooed. He tapped the pupil. Once. Twice. “I heard it loud and clear”.

Shiera struggled to get down a single, deep breath. “What do you want from me?”.  
“Want? I want you to say thank you, first of all. Then I want you to take off that hideous dress. You look… ”. His mouth cut a cruel line. “You look exactly like the doe-eyed damsel he and that simpering priestess want you to be”.

“You don’t know anything about me, about that Court…”. Rhys gave her a knowing smile. “Does Tamlin? Does he ever ask you why you hurl your guts up every night, or why you can’t go into certain rooms or see certain colors?”.

She froze. He might as well have stripped her naked. “Get out of my head”.

 

“Likewise”, he stalked a few steps away, “You think I enjoy being awoken every night by visions of you puking? You send everything right down that bond, and I don’t appreciate having a front-row seat when I’m trying to sleep”.

“As for what else I want from you… I’ll tell you tomorrow at breakfast. For now, clean yourself up. Rest”. That rage flickered in his eyes again at the dress, the hair. “Take the stairs on the right, one level down. Your room is the first door”.

“You made a bargain, and I am calling it in. You will be my guest here, with the privileges of a member of my household. None of my subjects are going to touch you, hurt you, or so much as think ill of you here”.

Her tongue was dry and heavy as she said “And where might those subjects be?”. “Some dwell here, in the mountain beneath us”. He angled his head. “They’re forbidden to set foot  
in this residence. They know they’d be signing their death warrant”.

His eyes met hers, stark and clear, as if he could sense the panic, the shadows creeping in. “Amarantha wasn’t very creative” he said with quiet wrath, “My court beneath this mountain has long been feared, and she chose to replicate it by violating the space of Prythian’s sacred mountain. So, yes: there’s a court beneath this mountain, the court your Tamlin now expects me to be subjecting you to. I preside over it every now and then, but it mostly rules itself”

“When… When are you taking me there?”. If she had to go underground, had to see those kinds of horrors again… Shiera would beg him, beg him not to take her. She didn’t care how pathetic it made me. She lost any sort of qualms about what lines she had cross to survive.

“I’m not”. He rolled his shoulders. “This is my home, and the court beneath it is my… occupation, as you mortals call it. I do not like for the two to overlap very often.”

“And the other denizens of your court?”. The Night Court territory was enormous,   
bigger than any other in Prythian. And all around them were those empty, snow-blasted mountains. No sign of towns, cities, or anything.

“Scattered throughout, dwelling as they wish. Just as you are now free to roam where you wish”.

“What is this place, then?” the princess asked the High Lord, “I don't live here but I come here to… deal with politics. Everyone is wrong about this Court but we want it to be like this. This palace is on the top of this mountain, and inside there's the Court that everyone knows, we call it the Court of Nightmares” Rhysand explained to the young bride.

“We? Who is that ‘we’? If this is not your real Court, where is the real one? If you don't live here then where…?” her questions filled the air between them and Rhys stopped her, “Hey… Those were so many questions but let me answer them. Firstly, that ‘we’ was referred to the people who help me to rule the Court. Secondly, thousands of years ago the Court under us was the real Court but one High Lord of my family decided to change it. This is only a city but this Court is the most big one, everyone lives where they want. Thirdly, I live in the Court of Dreams” he explained.

“Those people who help you to rule, they are from your family, friends or nobles in general? What is the… Court of Dreams? Is it a city? Is that the real Court?” Shiera was ashamed of asking so many things but she was really curious, “Ufff… It seems that you like to know… Okay, let's try again. The people who help me to rule, they are my Inner Circle, it's formed by members… of my family and friends that are closer than some relatives… The Court of Dreams it's the real Court and the city where I live” he answered with patience. 

“And now, before any other question, I'll show you your room” Rhys told her, “My room? But… If you don't live here… and there's nobody in this palace… Will you leave me here… Alone?” Shiera asked, fear filling her heart again, “I can't… take you with me” he said with resignation, “Why?” she said nearly in tears, “Where I live… It's a secret city. Nobody from the outside knows that it exist, and it had been like that for over a thousand years. If I take you there then when this two weeks are over, you will return to the Summer Court or the Spring Court and if someone finds out… I can't” he explained sadly. Rhys wanted to show her his home but he couldn't betray his Court. 

Shiera listened carefully at his words, she took a deep breath and said “When we made the deal, I told you that if… That I wouldn't be able to stay in Adriata and after what have happened and I won't return to the Spring Court. Could I… stay here? Could I go with you?”.

He couldn't believe that Shiera wanted to see the place where he lived, and she wanted to stay… He knew she would love Velaris but he had to be sure about something. 

“How long do you want to stay?” Rhys inquired, “How long I could?” the princess asked him. He looked at her green eyes lined in silver and said “You can stay as long as you want. How much do you want to stay?” he asked again and Shiera whispered “Indefinitely”.

*****************************************************************************************************************************************************  
He showed Shiera her room and told her that she had 10 minutes to get ready to leave. She entered and began to take off that horrible dress but she found out that she couldn't do it alone, the corset was very tight. 

She surveyed the room, her worrible wedding gown hissing on the warm marble floors. She peered down at herself. She seemed ridiculous.

The princess was smart and she tried to get undressed but she couldn't. So when the time ran out, Rhys entered and found her fighting desperately with her huge dress.

 

“Mmm… It seems that someone loves her dress so much that she doesn't want to wear another” Rhysand purred leaving again the room. 

Shiera was so tired and frustrated because of the damn dress…

Red exploded in her vision, and she couldn’t breathe fast enough, couldn’t think above the roar in her head. One heartbeat, she was staring after him, the next, she had her shoe in a hand.

She hurled it at him with all her strength. All her considerable, immortal strength.

The princess barely saw her silk slipper as it flew through the air, fast as a shooting star, so fast that even a High Lord couldn’t detect it as it neared… And slammed into his head.

Rhys whirled, a hand rising to the back of his head, his eyes wide.

She already had the other shoe in her hand.

Rhys was astounded, she had just throw him a shoe… If the young princess wanted to play, they would play. He turned again to look at her and she found Shiera with her other shoe in her hand and a little proud smirk in her face, he gave her a vicious grin and purred “I dare you”.

Temper, he had to be in some mood today to let his temper show this much. Good. That made two of them.

Shiera didn't hesitate and flung her other shoe right at his head, as swift and hard as the first one. His hand snatched up, grabbing the shoe mere inches from his face. Rhys hissed and lowered the shoe, his eyes meeting hers as he purred again “Nice try” she, shameless, stuck out her tongue.

“It seems that you don't need help with your dress, so okay. I’ll see you in a few days, Shiera darling” he told her and began to walk to the door but she said “No!… Could… Could you help me… Please?”, Rhys nodded and gave her a sweet grin before approaching the young bride. 

Then, he unfastened the ties of her corset, and the dress began to fall but he held it in place.

Slowly, Rhys tugged the pins and baubles from her curled hair, piling them onto the dressing table. Shiera rubbed at her scalp, aching from the weight of the curls and prodding pins. 

She remembered her first wedding, when Tarquin pulled the beautiful shell from her hair, a kiss for the silver object, but now… She swallowed against the burning in her throat.

What if Rhysand hadn’t saved her? What the High Lord of the Spring Court would be doing to her if she had married him?.

Tamlin had seen the hesitation, but had he understood that she was about to say no? Had Ianthe? But so many people had seen it, seen her hesitate…

Shiera thanked him and Rhys let her choose her new clothes. 

Her lower lip trembled, and she let the dress slide to the ground in a sigh of silk and tulle and beading, a deflated soufflé on the marble floor, and took a large step out of it. Even her undergarments were ridiculous: frothy scraps of lace, intended solely for Tamlin to admire and then tear into ribbons.

Shiera snatched up the gown, storming to the armoire and shoving it inside. Then she stripped off the undergarments and chucked them in as well. Her tattoo was stark against the pile of white silk and lace. 

She had wanted something black but there wasn't anything of that colour in that closet so Shiera chose a pair of pink and gold loose trousers and a top of the same colors.

A minute later went to where Rhys was waiting and he offered again his hand, ““Where  
are we going?” Shiera asked him as she took his hand.

Rhys’s smile widened into a grin. “Velaris. City of Starlight” he whispered to her.


End file.
